A biotin-modified and H2O2-activatable theranostic nanoplatform for enhanced photothermal and chemical combination cancer therapy

Although synergistic effects of photothermal therapy (PTT) and chemotherapy for cancer have been extensively investigated in previous studies, more potential strategies need to be exploited to alleviate severe adverse effects. In this study, a biotin-modified and activatable nanotheranostic system is developed. This system (BPSP/DOX-CyBA) composed of H 2 O 2 -sensitive thioketal (TK) linker, hydrophilic biotin-decorated polyethylene glycol (PEG) segment, hydrophobic polycaprolactone (PCL) segment, could self-assemble into (99 ± 1.3) nm nanoparticles and co-deliver H 2 O 2 -triggered photosensitizer CyBA and cytotoxic drugs DOX to tumor site. In vitro , DOX and CyBA could release rapidly from nanoparticles, CyBA accumulation in the mitochondria causes mitochondrial damage, leading to mitochondrial dysfunctions,while rising the level of ROS in B16F10 cells, and further to promote the micells to trigger release. CyBA could be activated into CyOH and the photothermal therapy was turn “off” into “on”. In BPSP/DOX-CyBA group, the local temperature within tumor reached 50 °C and cell apoptosis rate reached 68.6% under Laser irradiation (650 nm, 1 W/cm 2 ). Fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry analysis further demonstrated the better uptake efficiency on B16F10 cells with biotin decoration. In a mice B16F10 tumor model, the group with co-delivery CyBA and DOX had the best tumor retention effect, the maximal local temperature increasement and the minimum tumor growth with negligible side effects, suggesting the potential of BPSP/DOX-CyBA nanopalteform that synergistic photothermal therapy and chemotherapy and mitochondria damage as an effective melanoma treatment strategy.